No decline in US abortion rate

The number of abortions in the United States stayed at about the same level in 2008 as three years earlier, leveling off after a long period of decline, a survey said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the percentage of abortions that took place via drugs approved by the government in 2000 rose from 14 to 17 percent of all such procedures, according to data released by the Guttmacher Institute.

The total number of abortions in the United States in 2008 was 1.21 million, about the same as in 2005, when the institute issued its most recent report.